In his job, he specialises in cleaning up and decontaminating crime scenes from homicides, suicides, decomposing bodies (aka “unattended deaths”), industrial accidents, hoarders, tear gas, and other trauma, he wrote.

He applied to the job on a whim after growing to hate his desk job. He says there aren’t really any certifications to do the job, other than being able to follow OSHA requirements.

Lotsofshi’s answer: “The “grossest” per se would have to be an unattended death (natural cause) in a small trailer and the victim wasn’t found for over 2 months. I swear, it was a nightmare in that place. Dark, no power, and about 15,000+ flies and maggots everywhere. Flesh dripping from the walls and ceiling. Also, he was a hoarder.”

Lotsofshi’s answer: “I had to cleanup after a gruesome triple murder last year. A woman who ran a daycare was murdered in her home along with her parents, all execution style. It wasn’t that the scene itself was bad, but the fact that it was clear what happened, especially in a home run daycare, when children were present. Blood on the children’s toys, the fact that the woman was well respected in her community, and her parents were disabled… just depressing all around.”

Lotsofshi’s answer: “My girlfriend likes to clean, but if she doesn’t feel like it she will try to use my profession as leverage to get me to clean… I used to when I let her take advantage of me like that. Not anymore! Doesn’t work. Now I tell her to go kill someone and I’ll gladly clean it up, with a family and friends discount!”

Do you get used to the smell?

Lotsofshi’s answer: “Unless you’re a necrophiliac, nobody ever truly gets accustomed to the smell of a decaying corpse, as it’s essentially an evolutionary no-no. So after dealing with several of those in a row, in the hot summer sun… it gets annoying.”

Lotsfshi’s answer: “Typical starting pay is around $25/hour. That’s given actual job time. Driving to each scene in the company vehicle is a different pay rate. Certainly room to increase that exponentially. I make more than this, but then again it depends on how often jobs come through that determines yearly pay.”

Lotsofshi’s answer: “Oh absolutely! I do it all the time. Not when the customer is around, of course. But it’s all within reason (mostly). It’s a coping mechanism of sorts. Have to add humour to the job when you’re cleaning up brains from a ceiling all day long.”

Lotsofshi’s answer: “It’s one of those things where it’s a smell in and of itself. If you’ve ever smelled roadkill up close, it’s that.. but worse. It’ just plain putrid and has a tendency to trigger the gag reflex. It’s the strongest, most pungent odor I’ve ever come across.”